To Be the Perfect Childhood Friend - Chapter 67

“Yeah, Anita. I know it’s coming out of nowhere, but don’t get too close to the kid next door.”

“Nathan! What are you talking about?”

Suddenly, when Rutger’s story came up, Anita’s mom interrupted her husband. Nathan had already figured out who had been talking nonsense to their daughter.

“He’s not a helpful kid. Just look at him; his home environment is not good.”

“Nathan!”

“He’s your mom’s friend’s son, so socialize with him appropriately, but don’t get too close. I’ve seen over a hundred divorced families so far. None of them had a decent parenting environment.”

“Even if it’s you, Nathan, I can’t accept you making judgments about Sarah’s family.”

“You’re too naive. That woman remarried just a year after her ex-husband died. How can a child raised by such parents grow up well?”

Remarried? Dead ex-husband?

Anita stabbed her steak with her fork. Her appetite was off today.

This was the story of Rutger Baylan when he was Rutger Allen. Rutger Allen woke up early that day. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. The sun was rising now. His messy black hair looked like a bird’s nest. Children’s mornings were leisurely, and Rutger was at the age where he loved to sleep, so he lay back down and pulled the blanket over himself.

Just as he was about to fall asleep again, his door opened quietly.

What’s going on?

“Are you really going?”

“Shh, Sarah, lower your voice. What if Rut wakes up?”

“Is that the problem now?”

As the footsteps of the two approached the bed, Rutger struggled with whether to get up and let them know he was awake or pretend to be asleep.

“Rut, I’ll be back, okay?”

“You don’t have to go. What if something goes wrong?”

“It’s okay. I’ve already had preventive shots, and as a doctor, I want to fulfill my mission. I want to live as a doctor with pride, not ignoring sick patients.”

The voices of the two were getting louder. Feeling the seriousness of the situation, Rutger decided to slide the covers off.

“Dad, where are you going?”

“Rutger, try to stop your dad. He’s going to Eriston.”

“What’s Eriston?”

“It’s a country far to the south. He has to take a boat, and it will take about a month.”

“A month? Why are you going so far? Oh, are we moving?”

He didn’t want to say goodbye to his neighborhood friends, and he didn’t want to go to a strange place. He had to visit the candy store two minutes away from home every day.

“No, Dad will be the only one going. You have to clean the house well and study hard while I’m not here, okay?”

Rutger, dressed in his outing clothes and holding a large suitcase, looked at his dad for a moment and then spread his arms. His dad hugged Rutger. The rough cheek, cold and stiff from the suit and beard, was the last memory Rutger had of his dad.

As his dad passed through the garden and got on the carriage, Rutger, yawning again, crawled back into bed. The dawn air was cold, and the inside of the blanket was warm.

In the first few days, Rutger didn’t think about his dad, but as a month passed, he missed him.

“I want to write a letter to Dad.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There’s no mailman to deliver letters to Eriston.”

“……?”

“There’s a plague in Eriston.”

“What’s a plague?”

“It’s a monster. It takes away people’s lives. Your dad jumped in there to save the people.”

“…….”

And two years passed. There was still no news.

Sarah Allen began to meet a new man. Liquor bottles rolled around the house, and Sarah came home late at night with the support of a strange man.

“Ru, my son. Rutger. Can you catch your mom for me?”

Sarah stumbled as she called Rutger, but Rutger just stood still on the staircase.

“Rutger, it’s been a while. You’ve grown a lot.”

Rutger didn’t like that man. Heindel Baylan, Sarah’s new boyfriend. Unlike Rutger’s dad, who exuded a neat and intellectual atmosphere, Heindel was naughty and cunning. He was supposedly ten years younger than Sarah.

As the young boy stood motionless, glaring at Heindel between the staircase rails, Heindel, with his characteristic mischievous smile, shook hands.

“Why does Mom meet a guy like him?”

“She’s lonely, that’s why.”

“I’m here too, why?”

Elena, the housekeeper and nanny, thought it wasn’t something to say in front of the child, so she quickly blurred the end of her sentence and pushed Rutger into the bedroom.

A week later, a rainstorm blew into the house.

Rutger, who was sitting idly by the window, saw a man in military uniform entering the garden.

It was dinnertime, when the sun was slowly setting. Visitors at this time were either impolite or guests invited for dinner. Rutger watched him with curiosity. The man had neatly combed silver hair and walked with the typical gait of a soldier.

Like many young boys, Rutger had a strong curiosity and admiration for soldiers, so he rushed out of the room. He lay on the second-floor railing in a military posture, eyes fixed on the front door, waiting.

After an eternity, the doorbell rang. When it rang about three times, Sarah opened the door.

“I am Lieutenant Edwin Carter, currently serving in the 5th Division.”

“…….”

Sarah didn’t say anything. Unfazed by her attitude, the man took out a small envelope from his uniform pocket and handed it to her.

“I regret to inform you of this news. The one who went to Eriston as a volunteer doctor…”